Monday, February 28, 2011

Status Update-Outta Work & TrollConEast!

Hi all, just wanted to check in again, to write a brief post about where I am with regard to gaming at the moment.

As you probably read in my last post, I was downsized from my job of nearly six years on 2/25/11. Therefore, I guess it's no surprise that, for the next few weeks at least, my gaming activities will be mostly put on hold. Especially where it involves me as gamemaster. I need to spend the time applying for jobs, exploiting my network of contacts, getting unemployment and other government assistance going (uh, yes, I AM taking advantage of that, since I've been working consistently for years and paying into it dearly every paycheck. I think it's okay if I take a turn now), and other such activities.

I refuse to let this knock me out of my personal gaming renaissance, however! I shall return! Rage against the dying of the light, and all that...

If anyone out there in the Pennsylvania/NJ/Delaware area knows of anyone who needs a wordsmith (specifically a proposal and marketing writer), please leave a comment. My last six years of work was in the architecture/landscape architecture/Urban Design and Planning industry, but I'm not necessarily limited to that industry. I appreciate any leads you can provide!

With regard to gaming, I did attend TrollCon East at All Things Fun in Berlin, NJ as planned. I really needed the emotional boost! It was a blast, I had a great time. Met some new gamers, and Steve Chenault and Tim Burns from Troll Lord Games. It was really cool to have some one-on-one face time with some of the key guys behind Castles & Crusades. Steve in particular was gregarious, hilarious, down-to-earth, and an all-around fun time! Needless to say, I am now firmly in the C&C camp, and there's no longer a question as to what game system I will be using for my gaming for the foreseeable future!

When I have a chance, I will do a post specifically about my experiences at TrollCon East, and will include some pictures that I took. In the meantime, anyone interested can go here on the All Things Fun site to see a video of the part of Saturday night's gaming in which I was involved. I wasn't directly on camera for most of the time. I'm the guy in the lower right side of the screen with the short dark hair (no hat), goatee, glasses, and dark green sweater. Occasionally I pop onto the screen when I have to look closely at the minis we were using. Most of the time you can just see my hands, wedding ring on left hand and fiddling with dice and pens, and sometimes my arms...no big loss for you guys! ;-)

That's all for now, folks. I hope to check back in soon. Now, off to work on that resume...

Friday, February 25, 2011

Being Downsized: A Cure for Gamer ADD?

Heh, funny story. Got laid off today, not long after my first post this morning. It was a big surprise. Happy Friday! Another victim of the Second Great Depression.

One of my first reactions was: "Well, this should help my Gamer ADD!" Because 1) I won't be spending any more cash for a while on frivilous gaming purchases and 2) I'll need to spend a lot of time looking for a new job rather than looking through my existing gaming materials/ preparing for game sessions. Bottom line: being downsized has made me think that I should appreciate the game materials I have and the actual gaming I am doing, rather than taking the eternal "grass is always greener" approach to RPGs that I've been doing.

Here's to the next real life "adventure" for yours truly! As someone who's made his living as a writer (I prefer the term "wordsmith" actually ;-) I'm taking up my pen/sword and paper/shield and heading off into the job hunt/dungeon. Wish me luck!

TotW Session 5 and Other Updates

Well, we had our fifth session of my Tales of the Wanderers campaign last Thursday (I think I stated that in a recent post already, but, there you are!). The guys couldn't make it over last night, so next session is set for next Thursday, gods willing! You know how the permutations of adulthood can stalk and kill free time. In the meantime, I need to find the time to do an adventure log for the last session, add in NPCs, etc. Then prepare for the next session. Sheesh.

Things are going well, the guys and I seem to be shaking off the rust and are having a great time. I still sometimes wish we had at least one other player (and in particular a certain old friend who used to be one of our core players growing up), but for now things are going very well.

Anyone who's been reading my blog (thank you, the few of you who do so!) may have detected a recent bit of flip flopping, however. First, there was this last post on how I am now determined to switch the campaign from S&W/Flame Princess to Castles & Crusades. In a few other posts (here and here) you can see my turmoil between settling on S&W/Flame Princess or C&C. I almost feel like I want to change my stance on whether or not an ever-growing number of clones is a good thing (I currently think that more is merrier...but that might change). There has been recent debate again on the blogosphere regarding the matter of retroclone proliferation...no doubt you've seen it.

On the other hand, I can't fault the plethora of clones for being the source of my Gamer ADD. I have always been this way, getting distracted by a new campaign setting or game system that rears its head. This has been true for my entire gaming career, long before the current retroclone explosion.

But I think that my roots in 1E AD&D are finally coming out. So, even though it can be argued that C&C adds in a dash of 3.5 Edition, etc, it's got that 1E feel, with the added benefit of being more organized and less dense than the original AD&D books...and easier to get ahold of for the most part (CKG being the long-time exception, of course).

I'm not saying that I won't someday revisit the OD&D clones of my choice (S&W/Flame Princess) but they were inspired by a version of D&D that I didn't really experience in my formative years. Nostalgia trumps all, I guess, in this case.

Then there was my recent encounter with Barbarians of Lemuria, which indeed drove me into ADD overdrive! And also, always lurking in the back of my mind, is the vow I made to myself to finally run a Dragonlance campaign. I read the Dragonlance novel Stormblade 20 years ago, and it was the real spark that turned me on to D&D. I plan to read it again soon, and I am also planning on that campaign before my next birthday. How I will make it happen is still beyond me, but dammit, I am DETERMINED!

All of this inner turmoil has not caused a collapse in the campaign I am running...so far. And I want to keep it that way. So far, the guys seem to be having fun, so things are well. But the worst thing I could do right now is keep switching things around on them. They seem fine with a move to C&C, but I don't think they would appreciate being teleported to a new campaign world again or yet another game system. And I am also not sure they would want to be in two simultaneous campaigns. So I need to hold steady with the TotW campaign for a while, and be patient. Argh!

Anyway, another reason for my attention being drawn again to C&C is TrollCon East! Finally, a Con in my part of NJ! Can't wait to meet those guys!

That's all for now. As you can see, there's a lot going on. But you know, in the end, I'm loving it all!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

I guess it's better to have too much going on...

...rather than nothing at all! Well, we had a great session fifth session of my Tales of the Wanderers campaign last Thursday night. The players are really getting the hang of things, especially our resident newb. The game is picking up some good steam, and it was (IMHO) our best session yet! I just haven't found the time to do the adventure log entry for the session, nor to add the new NPCs, locations, etcetera to the wiki.

I have to say, though, that the yen to move the game from S&W/LotFP to Castles & Crusades has returned. Yes, the best laid plans of orcs and men, as they say. But the more time passes, the more I feel like we need the flexibility of C&C (mainly with regard to the SIEGE Engine attribute check system). I'm also starting to really miss the separate races and classes from my good old AD&D. Yes, I really think my roots are coming out, as I've stated before in this blog that I never really played OD&D back in my early days. I was AD&D right out of the gate.

Granted, the SIEGE Engine is grounded in d20/D&D 3.5, but it's workable. But I'm still a big believer in player skill versus character skill. I hope to have a hybrid of the two in the game.
Players should rely mainly on their own wits, with the rolls as a supplement to that...and not the other way around.

I just hope the players don't protest the switch! Although, I don't see it as a major learning curve. But they may see it differently. At the very least, they'll have to get used to a whole new character sheet, with a bit more going on.

The shift to C&C will also get me closer to something I swore I would do: finally run a campaign in the Dragonlance world. As I stated in the first part of my testimonial, a Dragonlance novel really got me into fantasy fiction in a major way as a kid. It's been a couple decades now since that formative moment, and I've vowed to finally make my own adventures on Krynn in homage. I'm not sure when this campaign will finally start (sometime this year, I think), but I want to make it my best ever. So I need to plan...

And Barbarians of Lemuria is still lurking in the darkness at the back of my brain, crouched, ready, waiting to pounce again on my frontal lobes and cause my RPG ADD to flare up once more!

Oh, and one other thing is on my gaming plate this week: TrollCon East is coming to my beloved South Jersey! Finally, a Con that isn't a half-continent away from me! The store at which it's taking place, All Things Fun, is one of a handful of gaming stores in my area. And it is hands down the best of the lot.

Ah, my life has gone from a gaming famine to a feast, indeed!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Opinion, Fact, and RPGs: Part 2

You can read the first part of this series here. To continue:

Why am I “concerned” enough about some people’s apparent inability to discern the difference between opinion and fact? So concerned that I felt the urge to write this two-part post? Well, first of all, I think there’s a potential irony here. Meaning, the harsh critics of the RPG realm may actually contribute to the “downfall” of the hobby that they often seem to predict. The critics may not see that they themselves—not some huge impersonal publisher or a bunch of old grognards—are more of a detriment than a force for positive change. Instead of helping to foster efforts to keep the hobby of roleplaying diverse and dynamic, their insistence on merely criticizing may lead to the stagnation they claim to see happening all around them. Put simply: self-fulfilling prophecy.

I’m not saying one can’t feel passionately about one’s hobby. But just be aware of yourself. Does your passion have to manifest itself in negativity? Why can’t it be the impetus behind something more constructive?

I’ve read many “kerfuffles” (I despise that word, BTW) in the gaming blogosphere in the past year and they all made me wonder, “Why don’t people put this energy into actual gaming? Why don’t they turn this energy toward creating “better” gaming materials, for instance? Why can’t they try to be a part of the solution?” We need to stop wasting time trading barbs in an imaginary place (the Internet) about a hobby that is based in the imagination.

Here’s some thoughts for Malcolm Sheppard: Stop simply throwing “controversy bombs” out into the ether in order to attract attention. Using inflammatory language to get a visceral response instantly polarizes your readers. It undermines what you are trying to do: persuade people to consider your ideas. Some who agree will flock to your side, but you run the risk of instantly alienating others. And is that what you really want? If you want to truly be persuasive, then avoid being outrageous…avoid grandstanding. And understand that, no matter how well you research and how well you write, there are those that will never agree with you. And that’s ok!

I think Mr. Sheppard and Leo Grin would do better to make less attacks. They make themselves irrelevant and, worse, unheard due to their vitriol. They need to resist that urge within all human beings to preach to the masses. We seem to tend toward trying to gain footholds in the thoughts of others. Both Sheppard and Grin would be better served by trying harder to come up with solutions, rather than attacking and—as it seems to me—waiting for others to do the hard work of bringing about the creative change that the authors seem to crave.
At one point in his rant, Mr. Sheppard uses the phrase “Do better.” I think he needs to take his own advice.

I’ve read blogs that complained that the mainstream RPG industry, which includes powerful publishers like Wizards of the Coast, is a monstrous and evil entity. Others attack the old school renaissance for its supposed curmudgeonly members who are often seen (mostly erroneously) as resistant to change, victims of “negative” nostalgia.

Then there are the incessant Dungeons & Dragons “edition wars.” Look, is D&D 4th edition like the older versions? No. But does that really mean that it’s “not D&D,” as so many (including this guy, starting at 2:40) have claimed? No. Sorry guys, but it has the official name. Call it the victim of a corporate conspiracy or whatever, but 4th edition is now the “public face” of the game. But that’s just WotC’s vision of the game. Good old OD&D exists wherever gamers are playing it. And no matter what “evil” things WotC has done the D&D brand, the true game will still exist in spirit in the place it should exist: in gamers themselves.

Look, right now I’m playing Swords & Wizardry and Lamentations of the Flame Princess. But when people ask me what I’m playing, I say “Dungeons and Dragons.” I made some home-made DM screens, and on the front I put images of the old iconic Red Box Basic set cover. Because, in spirit, that’s what I’m playing. No game company or ranting blogger can change that.

Maybe we all need to realize that the entire RPG industry could be utterly wiped from the face of the earth by some supernatural force, but people would still, somehow, be able to roleplay! They wouldn’t need all the stuff that’s ever been published to do so. Just the power of imagination!

I would argue that if someone depends on the creativity of others (i.e. game publishers) to give them a roleplaying experience that is unique and original and brand-spanking-new, then that someone needs to get a new hobby. Because part of the genesis of roleplaying stems from collective storytelling. And when you get a group of people together to tell stories, more often than not something unique happens.

I would also argue that there is a majority of players and gamemasters out there that would say “what are you talking about?” or “who cares?” or “no kidding!” if someone came to them saying “dude, the big corporate monster/little self-publisher guy lacks creativity and is putting out rehashed stuff! BEWARE!” Because this majority does not depend on the creative (or non-creative) whims of some distant producer of products. Most gamers are a resourceful lot. They are, if nothing else, some of the most creative people you may ever chance to meet.

And regarding any supposed downward trend in the hobby that many believe exists, I would also argue that roleplayers would make the perfect fertile ground for a “grass roots” effort to keep the game alive where it should be: in the “trenches,” in actual play sessions all over the world.

It’s all about personal preference, people! Look, I don’t know what version of D&D is being referred to when someone says “Moldvay” or “Mentzer.” And I don’t have to know in order to enjoy the game. And I don’t fault the guys or girls who enjoy that level of detail. That’s how they enjoy the game. And I would expect mutual respect.

There are a lot of gamers out there, folks. If we just used the Internet, and specifically the blogosphere, to unite with each other rather than take pot shots at each other, we can ensure the continued life of the hobby. We shouldn’t be hoping and praying for some company to keep it alive.

We gamers, especially the older generation that grew up on the earlier D&D editions, don’t have to be the stereotypical grognards who just complain that the kids these days don’t know “real” D&D. What is real? Reality is subjective, but that’s so easy to forget.

Instead of being an anti-social old gamer, introduce younger gamers to the older editions. Don’t alienate yourself and the older editions by being standoffish, and don’t make the older editions some arcane thing to be hoarded and kept out of sight.

Speaking of new gamers, those just coming to the hobby might benefit from the dreaded “rehashing” of old roleplaying tropes. Maybe they’re the ones to which all the same old stuff is being marketed, since to THEM it’s not “the same old stuff.” It’s new stuff! They might benefit from being exposed to the good old classic dungeon crawl where there’s just a dragon waiting below, crouching greedily over its treasure hoard. That may be boring to RPG veterans, but to someone like the child of a gamer who is being introduced to RPGs by their parent, they’re experiencing that for the first time. And the parent may take some joy in seeing a child experience that wonder at something so simple and classic.

I’d also like to add in a reality check by reminding one and all that WE ARE ALL TALKING ABOUT A HOBBY! A GAME! Arguing over RPGs makes outsiders to the hobby think of us as not just the regular nerds they took us for, but UBER-NERDS! My wife is unfortunately one of those people, because I tried to tell her about this whole “O vs. F” thing, and she wondered out loud why adults were arguing over what she basically considers a game of pretend. But consider that maybe those people who think of us as supergeeks are right in this instance. So please, everyone, let’s all try not to be the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons! ;-)

It’s okay to have vigorous debate about a game. But when debate crosses over into dogma, well, it’s just not fun anymore. And isn’t that the point of our hobby?

Play and let play!

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to any comments you may have!

Postscript: I think I need to write a standard reply to posts that seem to confuse opinion and fact and/or posts that make me think the author should do something positive for gaming. Then I can use it when I comment on such posts, instead of rewriting my thoughts from scratch all the time.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Opinion, Fact, and RPGs: Part 1

I’ve read a few blog posts in the last couple of weeks that have really brought a certain topic to the fore of my mind again. First there was this post: Why Do RPGs Suck?

To summarize, the author claims that…well, read the title of the post: “Why Do RPGs Suck?” One immediately knows there’s going to be an argument in the making, no?

And then there was this post: Are Joe Abercrombie’s Novels “Poison to Both the Reader’s Mind and Culture?”

In this instance, a man named Leo Grin (who apparently was the mastermind behind the late, great Cimmerian blog, which I loved) wrote a “scathing indictment” of fantasy literature. He even went so far as to directly attack current author Joe Abercrombie, the creator of the First Law trilogy. Now, I know that this is not gaming-related per se, but it will serve to illustrate my point, when I get to it.

Yes, these posts caused me no shortage of frustration. Sure, since I’ve been reading and contributing to the RPG blogosphere (about a year now), I’ve read a lot of posts where people criticize other people, or game systems, or editions of games, etcetera. In the literary world, there are book critics, and it stands to reason that the RPG world would have its own. Criticism is part of human nature, of course, and it’s all too easy to do.

So could my post be a musing on the role of criticism in human civilization? I won’t go that far. But if I did, whatever I wrote would be my OPINION, put forth as something for the reader to consider, i.e. a different perspective to ponder.

Criticism has its uses. It may help change the subject matter being criticized. It can cause a person being criticized to strive to improve themselves. It may even cause some people to adopt the ideas of the author. Thus we have persuasive writing. And I have no problem with any of that. I wholeheartedly support and enjoy vigorous, fair debate. It makes us better thinkers and may even foster respect for others, among other things.

But, as some may agree, criticism all too often slips into a less-than-constructive form. Now, I’m not necessarily saying that the criticism displayed in the two blog posts I mentioned earlier is “destructive” criticism, per se. I think that both authors are intelligent and coherent writers. They structured their posts well, and they may even have been very persuasive.

I take issue with these blog posts for one primary reason: the authors both seem to believe that what they have written is FACT, rather than their OPINIONS. This is something that I cannot understand. These authors, like so many others in our variegated species, apparently cannot—or choose not to—grasp the basic concept of the difference between opinion and fact. To my eyes, as evidenced by word choice, tone, and other factors, they seem to be assuming that anyone else who reads their words will take their arguments as fact. I may be wrong, so I challenge you to read their posts and judge for yourselves.

Just because these authors wrote a lot of words, put a lot of research into their words, and have a lot of experience with their subject matters does not make them the final arbiters of truth on said subjects. I know this sounds supremely obvious, but I wonder if it is obvious to the authors themselves. From what I’ve read, it seems that they may not. But again, that’s my opinion.

So, I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt. I’m not going to assume that these authors are egomaniacs. But I am still disturbed by the positions of “false authority” from which they seem to be writing. False authority is one of the fallacies in the discipline of rhetoric. Also, it could be argued that the “Why Do RPGs Suck?” post by Malcolm Sheppard also uses such fallacies as generalization and ad populum (attempting to prove a conclusion on the grounds that all or most people think or believe it is true).

I of course am just as prone to the inability to determine my opinions from fact. It seems to be a knee-jerk reaction for human beings. But human beings, especially adults, have the ability for self-reflection, self-regulation. And this allows us to think about what we are saying, and realize that most of what we believe on a personal level is our opinion, and the many other people around us have their own beliefs. And beyond that, we should also realize that every individual is allowed to have their own opinion.

Since the mid-1990s, when I was in college and the Internet as we know it today began to take shape, I quickly came to this conclusion:

The Web had the potential to be a whole new medium for the human tendency toward demagogy to flourish in a way it never had in all of history. No longer was a demagogue’s audience limited to those who could hear his/her voice. Now he/she could spread his/her words across the world. And this would, potentially, only fuel his/her rhetoric, creating a vicious cycle.

I know my thoughts on this may sound pedestrian, and that you may think that I’m simply restating common sense. But if opinion versus fact is so basic a concept, why do I seem to come across so many blogs where the authors blatantly ignore the difference between opinion and fact?

I’m going to stop there for now, having created a background for my eventual point (and I do have one!). I didn’t want to cram all of my thoughts into one monstrous post. I’ll wrap things up in my next post on this topic. Thanks for reading! And in the meantime, I'd like to hear any thoughts you might have out there!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Damned Barbarians!

Now, anyone who's been visiting my blog to read my infrequent posts should know that I have a relatively young campaign going called Tales of the Wanderers. I'm using a S&W Complete/Flame Princess hybrid rules set for it. There has been a bit of dimension hopping going on already, with characters starting off from Greyhawk's Oerth and Dragonlance's Krynn. Yes, a kender walked on Oerth for a short time, but alas he has now returned to his homeworld. His player had come to me to let me know that he has had a long-standing yen to play a monk character, and this was made possible after I aquired the S&W Complete rules (I had initially been using only the Lamentations of the Flame Princess deluxe box set rules). So the kender left our ongoing storyline, to be replaced by a monk.

The players characters are now on the world of Golarion, the default setting for Pathfinder. I find the setting fascinating, from the nations to the history and the gods, and at the moment found it more appealing than Oerth, Faerun, Krynn, or any other prepublished setting. Perhaps this is because I've done a lot of recent gaming in those worlds, and because at least one of my players has read a good bunch of novels based in Faerun. I felt like Golarion was new ground, and could be easily tweaked and reshaped into my own image. And I absolutely need a published setting to help me provide details for the campaign, because I just don't have the time to create my own world from scratch. But I am taking many liberties with the setting.

Anyone interested in knowing more about the goings on in the campaign can read the adventure log at Obsidian Portal.

Now, all that said, I want to stress that I really love what I've created with my players for the Tales of the Wanderers campaign. I like how I've blended S&W and LotFP, I like my smattering of house rules for the campaign, I like the characters my players' enthusiasm and the characters they are using. I have lots of ideas to throw at the players. Yeah, everything is good.

And of course, along comes the serpent in the garden. The serpent's name is Barbarians of Lemuria (referred to as BoL from here on out). You see, I have a weakness for swords & sorcery. Most of my roleplaying experience may be with epic or high fantasy, the default mode of Dungeons and Dragons-style gaming, but I love my Conan, my Elric, my Fafhrd and Grey Mouser, etcetera. So when I heard rumors of this BoL game, I had to seek it out.

I acquired a copy, and quickly I was ensnared! The system is simple and is well suited for games that aspire to capture the swords & Sorcery feel. I recommend checking it out.

But now I am eager to finally do a campaign set in Hyboria, something that has been gnawing within me forever! And though BoL has a the built-in Lemuria setting, it can easily be used for a game set in Conan's world.

Damn you, Gamer ADD! Damn you, "new shiny"!

So, here's what I'm currently planning. I am thinking of starting a campaign called "With Steel and Spell: Adventures Across Hyboria" using the BoL system. It will serve as a "side campaign" of episodic adventures, just like Robert E. Howard's Conan stories. This campaign will be a quick and easy game for those times when my players and I, for whatever reasons, are not prepared to delve into our main campaign. There are nights when some or all of us are not up to the demands of the more structured Tales of the Wanderers game (we may be exhausted from a hard day's work, I may not have had time to prepare materials for a session, etcetera).

That's where BoL comes in! We can still use our game night for gaming, but without worrying about the more serious campaign. So, that's how I am trying to contain the BoL beast, through compromise and not outright denial! Repressing one's urges is never good, right? Especially urges of a barbaric nature!

Questions for the masses:

Has anyone else out there recently been hit with a bout of Gamer ADD, and if so, how did you overcome/appease it (if you were able to do so at all)?

Has anyone had any experience with BoL, such as actual play? If so, please share!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Tales of the Wanderers: Session 4

So we finally got the group back together after a bit of wintry mess and had our fourth session for ye olde campaign (the third session with both of my players in attendance). Here's the latest adventure log post on the campaign's Obsidian Portal page.

We're still using a Swords & Wizardry/Lamentations of the Flame Princess rules combo, despite my recent thoughts of changing rules sets, and will be doing so for the foreseeable future. One of my players, Dan, had been playing a kender, but he and I decided that he would move to a monk character that he had been thinking of before the campaign started. I allowed this, since we are not too far into the campaign and he really seemed to have a great yearning to play a monk (made possible by my purchasing the Swords & Wizardry Complete rules).

Anyway, hope you take a look at the OP page, and I welcome comments, thoughts, etc. It's been a great experience so far, and me and the guys are happy as heck to be playing! We're having lots of fun, and it seems like it will only keep getting better! That's all I could ask for at this point!

Friday, February 4, 2011

D&D on Community Last Night


So, anyone catch the D&D episode of Community last night?

I watched it, and yes, it poked fun at the game, but I think it wasn't all just a cheap shot at the game. Or maybe it was, because I am pretty sure that I am not a reliable source of information anymore, since I am getting older and, well, getting mentally slower/dumber. At any rate, personnally, I feel you have to have a sense of humor about most things in life. So let the people laugh at D&D! We as players here on the blogosphere are not the insecure teenagers we used to be, and we can stand up to the mockery! We have the last laugh, because we know how great a thing RPGs are!

All I know is I laughed a lot during the show. Community has some stinkers for episodes, but sometimes they get it right. And Chang is a big part of the goodness of the show. Seriously, no matter what actor Ken Jeong is in, he kills me!

Anyone reading this: I'd like to know your thoughts, opinions...even reviews of the episode.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Speaking Too Soon

So, in a recent post yers trooly made a declaration about my intentions to switch my current campaign from a foundation of Swords & Wizardry/Lamentations of the Flame Princess to Castles & Crusades. Well, I spoke too soon.

It seems that my players made it plain that they would prefer to stick with the rules we are currently using, at least for the time being. They've just gotten the swing of things, and are sort of dreading a switch. I guess I don't blame them. If we were a lot younger and a lot less burdened with adult-type stuff, then maybe the switch wouldn't be a big deal. So, if the players speak, then who am I to argue? Oh wait...I AM the GM, aren't I?!

Actually, I've been mulling over the possibility of moving the campaign to the world of Nehwon, and I think the S&W/LotFP hybrid that I'm using will suit that setting just fine.

So, onward on!